This machine is perhaps not so farfetched as it might seem. During World War II, gun-aiming equipment using the new technique _radar_ reached a high stage of development. Many shots that disabled and sank enemy ships were fired in total darkness by radar-controlled guns. On the glowing screen in the control room, there were two spots, one that marked the target and one that reported the point at which the gun was aimed. These two spots could be brought almost automatically into agreement. In the same way, a report from a phototube telling the shape of an observed mark and a report from the memory of the machine telling the shape of a similar mark could be compared by the machine for likeness and, if judged enough alike, could be approved as identical. Even the phrase “enough alike” can be applied by a machine. During World War II, tremendous advances were made in machinery for deciphering enemy messages. Machines observed various features and patterns in enemy messages, swiftly counted the frequency of these features, and carried out statistical tests. Then the machines selected those few cases in which the patterns showed meaning instead of randomness. A machine like the automatic typist, if made flexible enough, would be, of course, extremely useful. A great load of dull office work is now being thrown on clerks whose task is to translate from writing and typing into languages that machines can read, such as punch cards. At the present time, if punch-card machines are widely used in a big company, the company must employ large numbers of girls whose sole duty is to read papers and punch up cards. A still bigger chore is the work of typists in all kinds of businesses whose main duty is to read handwriting, etc., and then copy the words on a typewriter. [Illustration: Each square in the grill is watched by a phototube. FIG. 1. Scheme for distinguishing _A_ and _H_ by 15 phototubes.] Research has already begun on various features of the automatic typist because of its obvious labor-saving value. For example, many patents have been issued on schemes for dividing the area occupied by a letter or a digit into an array of spots, with a battery of phototubes each watching a spot. The reports from the phototubes together will distinguish the letter or digit. For example, if we consider _A_ and _H_ placed in a grill of fifteen spots, 5 long by 3 wide (see Fig. 1), then the phototubes can distinguish between _A_ and _H_ by sensing black or white in the spot in the middle of the top row. When we consider how easily and swiftly a human being does this, we can once more marvel at the recognizing machine we all carry around with us in our heads. Automatic Stenographer Another development that we can foresee is one that we can call the _automatic stenographer_. This is a machine that will listen to sounds and write them down in properly spelled English words. The elements of this machine can be outlined: